Where-To-Go Wednesday - New Jersey State Police Museum

What: The New Jersey State Police Museum

Where: River Road (Route 175)
              Between Interstate 95 and West Upper Ferry Rd.
              West Trenton, NJ

Who: Teens and Up

 
 

Me - The New Jersey State Police Museum is an interesting museum. They have a lot of fascinating artifacts. They have missing posters from real missing persons cases, They have devices that were used in illegal gambling rings. They have fingerprint kits. They even have a place where you can figure out what kind of fingerprint you have. They also have a fake crime scene and an interactive video which takes you through a crime scene investigation. They have different police uniforms from different times. They have a lot of police badges. All the badges have numbers. You can search the badge number and find out about the policeman it belonged to. There was only one New Jersey State Policeman ever who did not have a badge number. There are a lot of videos throughout the exhibit which tell different things and make it more interactive. There is also a whole lot more. Even though the museum is small, it has quite a lot of interesting artifacts and information. I learned  a lot about police work from the museum. It really made me appreciate all that the police do.

 
 

Mom - For a small museum the New Jersey State Police Museum is jam packed with interesting objects and information. You can really learn a lot about being a policeman, and the different types of crimes that they handle from visiting this museum. There  are confiscated guns, a  prohibion era still,  tickets from the 1964 Democratic convention which took place in Atlantic City and required a large police presence, and  a whole lot more more. There are display cases devoted to Canine cops, drunk driving , the DARE antidrug program, School Safety and more. There are plenty of interactive videos including one that takes you through the history of the New Jersey State Police since they were first founded in in 1921. There are uniforms and models of police cars from different time periods. There is even a whole exhibit devoted to the Lindbergh case, which we will talk about in  a separate post next week. I would not recommend this museum for very young children or anyone who scares easily do to the nature of police work and the fact that some of the pictures and/or items may be frightening including a replica crime scene complete with body outline and fake blood stains. However, anyone interested in learning about all that police work encompasses and the history of the New Jersey police in general would find a visit to this intriguing museum quite worthwhile.

 
 

The Museum is completely free, but it is only open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and is not open on weekends. For more information, visit www.njsp.org/about/museum.shtml

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Theater Thursday.